The invention relates to a method of quarrying dimensional stone, the method comprising drilling a plurality of drill holes in a rock or a stone block in at least one drill hole line, at a desired hole spacing from each other. For the drilling, a line drilling device is used, which comprises a boom provided with a drilling unit, which, in turn, comprises a rock drilling machine, a feed beam and a feeding apparatus. In frameless line drilling, the drilling unit is positioned in the drill hole line by means of the boom from a drilled drill hole to a drill hole to be drilled next. After the drilling, a dimensional stone block is detached from a position determined by the drill hole lines for further processing. The invention further relates to a line drilling apparatus for quarrying dimensional stone.
The objects of the invention are defined more precisely in the preambles of the independent claims of the application.
High-quality rock is detached from a rock in large blocks, which are split into the desired smaller blocks. Transportable dimensional stone blocks are transported from the excavation site for further processing into interior decoration tiles, table levels, tombstones and corresponding products. For detaching dimensional stone, one or more drill hole lines are drilled in the rock. After the drilling, the dimensional stone block can be detached by blasting or by means of wedges. The dimensional stone block is split in a corresponding manner. The drilling is carried out with a line drilling device, which conventionally comprises a mechanical frame that is positioned in the direction of the hole line to be drilled and controls the drilling unit from one hole to another. However, such a drilling device comprising a frame is heavy, clumsy and has a complex structure. Accordingly, a frameless line drilling device has been developed. The device disclosed in publication EP-0 551 299-B1, for example, comprises a boom, a drilling unit being arranged at its outermost end. The drilling unit is positioned in the drill line at the starting point of the hole to be drilled first and the starting point of the hole to be drilled last, and, in addition, a hole spacing is given, after which the control unit of the drilling device positions the drilling unit by means of the boom at the starting locations of the drill holes to be drilled. However, a disadvantage of this solution is that the positioning of the drilling unit at the starting points of the starting and finishing hole of the drill hole line to be drilled is slow. Furthermore, the drilling unit is located at the outermost end of a relatively long boom, making the exact positioning of the boom difficult.